Today was another long and interesting day. We had plans to meet Kristin at 8 am this morning but had just a bit of lag time getting out of the door. As we stood at the end of the drive to our domicile a battered range rover pulled up and the lady driving asked if we were going to Antigua and did we want a ride. Yes we said, we are going to Antigua but we failed to tell her that we were meeting someone AND she failed to say that we had to stop at the Collegio (school) to drop of her 5 year for the FIRST day of school. The FIRST day meant that mom had to escort her INTO the building. We were going to be late. The mom returned to the car and took us on down the road but dropped us at a bus stop with some miles yet to go before we would arrive in Antigua so she could get to work. We had an active cell phone but we had no idea how to use it with the new TIGO sim card and could not call Kristin. Five more minutes and we would have spent the day in Antigua by ourselves (tomorrow if we are late we will indeed be left behind for a day of rest).
First bus of the day picked us up at the bus stop, a goodly distance from Antigua, and we arrived at our meeting place just seconds before Kristin gave up on us. We then went with her to the 'bus station' to catch one of the two buses needed to get us to the small private school we were planning to visit. This first bus dropped us on the other side of the Pan American Highway where we changed buses for the remainder of the trip. I have to wonder why all of the rather large women getting on the bus seat themselves as a 3rd person on a seat designed for two at the front of the bus and clogging up the aisle so that everyone getting on or off of the bus has to climb all over them to squeeze past them. It is amazing to watch and a trick to get around them especially after grocery shopping.
At the school we met with the new principal to find out what she wanted to accomplish with functioning computers. Then we went hunting for dinosaurs! It seems the previous (and ousted) principal took the original donated computers and left some rather 'rough' computers in their place. There are two computers running Windows 98 and three with Windows XP. Don is doing some research to find tools and perhaps programs that will accomplish some of the principals goals. Tomorrow we go back really truly early to try again. I will be doing some data entry of students who need library cards while Don does what he can with the mix-n-match computers.
We got back to Antigua on a chicken bus who's driver must have been competing for fairs or he had a date! We tore down the streets like we were riding on Space Mountain. He only slowed down for passengers on and off. The curves, wholes, and bumps were fair game! We were shook, rattled and rolled back to Antigua!
After arriving back at the 'bus station' while looking for the bus that would takes us past the cemetery I took pictures on some of the chicken buses. Nick wants to see one and today there was one taking two bicycles off of the roof. I hope I was not to far away when I took that picture. The buses are painted in bright colors and fancy designs. Some have names on the outside like "Esmeralda" and they go on a specific route. We have a preference for the blue and white buses because the drivers are a tad more sedate in their driving!
We decided that we would bring lunches tomorrow since I have an ankle not happy about the cobble stones and it is NOT the one I broke. If we stay in one place for most of the day the silly ankle will have some time to recover. To bring a lunch meant another trip to the store for such fare.
Today we were successful in getting off of the bus across the street from the apartment at the END of the cemetery. Once back in the apartment we prepared a soup for perhaps breakfast and most certainly for dinner tomorrow night. We plan to have our act together before bed time so we can roll out of bed in the morning with a minimum of confusion to catch the first bus of the day.
We carry too much stuff with us and will try to pare down what is essential to have with us all day. We carry bottled water because it is safer but water is heavy. We carry Kleenex because toilet tissue is not necessarily available in all rest rooms. It is necessary to carry snack foods, a Spanish dictionary (paper is also heavy), pen and paper to make notes and right down directions, a hat and perhaps a long sleeve shirt if it is chilly. As you can see before long we are carrying a lot of stuff! Just what do we leave behind?
That's it I am done for today.
